The present invention relates to bags, methods for providing a handle on a bag, and apparatus for attaching a handle to a bag, in particular, but not only, shopping bags with flexible cord handles.
In the fierce field of retail marketing and related services, the use and recognition of brand names is vital. Gone are the days when an assistant would place your purchased items in a plain plastic or brown paper bag. Now most individual boutiques, jewellery shops etc have their own customer bags of various sizes and shapes with the names and logos of the shop or its products printed thereon. Such bags are an effective advertisement for the product or outlet. One particularly popular type of bag has a pair of flexible cord handles which pass through apertures in the bag, the free ends of the handles being tied to prevent disengagement of the handle from the bag. The flexible cord handle is comfortable to use, provides an aesthetically pleasing, high quality product and is easier to pack than rigid handled bags since the flexible cord will drape downwardly on the outside faces of the bag.
Connecting such handles to the bag wall itself, however, creates certain difficulties. Normally the handle is manually passed through the apertures adjacent to the open upper end of the bag and the free ends tied in knots to prevent the handle from disengaging from the bag. This is slow, expensive and labour intensive process, particularly if the handle is produced from a woven cord which has very little rigidity in the axial direction. Further, the possibility of human error cannot be discounted and if the knots are improperly tied, the handle may disengage from the bag altogether leading to damage of the bag contents.
Handles are also known to be fitted to bags via adhesive strips which makes their security dependant on the adhesive and tearability of the strip and/or bag.
It is the intention of the applicant to provide a method and apparatus for attaching flexible cord handles to bags or other receptacles which offers a useful alternative to known arrangements.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for attaching a flexible cord handle on a bag comprising the steps of;
forming a pair of apertures through a bag wall,
providing at least one substantially planar obstruction member with at least one cord receiving passageway therethrough,
passing at least one free end of a flexible cord through one of said apertures and into a respective cord receiving passageway of the obstruction member, and
fixing the free end of the cord to the obstruction member by deforming at least a portion of the obstruction member surrounding the cord,
and further wherein the greatest dimension of the obstruction member is larger than the aperture in the bag wall.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a bag made according to the aforementioned method. Preferably the bag comprises a pair of flexible cord handles adjacent to an open mouth of the bag.
The bag may comprise any suitable flexible material such as paper, light cardboard, plastic film or fabric.
Preferably, the bag comprises a pair of obstruction members for each handle, one obstruction member being fixed to each respective free end of the cord. Alternatively, the bag may include a single obstruction member for each flexible cord handle, such an obstruction member having a pair of cord receiving passageways adapted to be fixed to both free ends of each flexible cord handle.
In a third aspect, the present invention provides a substantially planar obstruction member when used in the method of the first aspect of the invention, which member is suitable for attachment to a free end of a flexible cord handle, the obstruction member comprising a wall portion with a cord receiving passageway therethrough adapted to engage and hold the flexible cord wherein the greatest dimension of the wall portion is substantially larger than the diameter of the flexible cord.
The obstruction member may be produced from virtually any material such as metal, wood, rubber, plastic, compressed fibres etc. In one embodiment, the obstruction member is constructed from a resilient material with the undeformed diameter of the cord receiving passageway being smaller than the diameter of the flexible cord. This provides an obstruction member which may be deformed to allow insertion of a flexible cord after which the obstruction member may be relaxed to engage and hold the flexible cord.
In another embodiment, the obstruction member includes a plurality of inwardly directed prongs, ridges or the like adapted to grip and hold the flexible cord passing through the cord receiving passageway.
Alternatively, the obstruction member may be fixed to the cord by means of an adhesive or by directly moulding the obstruction member onto the cord.
The cord itself may be of any suitable flexible material however woven polyethylene strands are particularly preferred. Such a woven structure provides for better engagement of the prongs.
In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for attaching a flexible cord handle to a bag wall, said apparatus comprising a cord supply means for providing a length of flexible cord,
a bag wall supply means for providing a bag wall with a pair of apertures therethrough, and
an obstruction member supply means for providing at least one substantially planar obstruction member for each length of cord, each obstruction member having at least one cord receiving passageway therethrough adapted to receive and hold the cord,
said apparatus further comprising a cord insertion means for passing each free end of the length of cord on a first side of said wall through a respective aperture into the cord receiving passageway of a respective obstruction member on an opposite side of the bag wall and fixing each free end to that respective obstruction member.
The obstruction member supply means preferably provides pairs of obstruction members for each flexible cord handle. Alternatively, a single obstruction member may be used for attachment to both free ends of the flexible cord handle. Preferably, in addition to holding the cord and inserting each free end into the cord receiving passageway of the obstruction member, the cord insertion means may include a spreader means adapted to temporarily deform the obstruction member to allow for easy insertion of the cord through the cord receiving passageway.
Preferably, the free end of the cord is doubled back on itself before being inserted into the cord receiving passageway of the obstruction member, so that the free end of the cord and the handle are on the opposite side of the bag wall to the obstruction member.
As a matter of choice the obstruction member can be positioned on the interior or exterior side of the bag wall. If the obstruction member is decorative or includes additional advertising material, it may be desirable to have it positioned on an exterior side of bag.